SIX DECADES, ONE PROFESSION
The coaches in this archive span generations — from careers that started when film was actual film to a first-year receivers coach. Scroll through the decades as they lived them.
Long before anyone here held a whistle, the coaches who shaped them were already working. Peter Hopkins' grandfather was decades into a 64-year coaching career — he would still be coaching Peter's senior-year team at age 87. In Sweeny, a teenage Don Carter lost his mother and watched his coaches quietly become his family.
“My mom died early in life when I was a junior. My dad moved away. And the coaches there, Coach Buddy Hopson, Coach Ken Dabbs, they just took care of me.”
Don Carter — watchThe elder statesmen of this archive start their careers. Jeff Dixon begins a road that will run through Southlake Carroll, Katy, Palmer, Ennis, and Alvarado — 38 years and counting. Brady Pennington, a few years behind him, realizes on a Young Life weekend that coaching is his calling, and starts a 36-year run through Van, Brenham, and New Caney.
“A lot of times as a coach you're thinking, are they listening? Are they getting this? Don't think for a second that they're not — they're listening.”
Brady Pennington — watchA broken leg ends Doug Wendel's playing dreams in Oklahoma and starts a coaching career instead — 28 years of getting up and attacking the day. Jared Moffatt begins his 27 years in the kid business, learning under the Denton Ryan mentors he still calls heroes.
“It came second nature to me: I'm going to be like that guy. I'm going to get up every day and I'm just going to attack. I've been doing it 28 years now — I got up today and attacked.”
Doug Wendel — watchOne program keeps showing up in these stories. Sam Harrell's Ennis staff becomes a finishing school for coaches who care: a struggling Jeff Dixon gets a phone call and three years that change how he coaches; a rival staff from Brenham drives over to learn zone coverage and leaves with a friend for life.
“I find Sam Harrell to be one of the most amazing men I've ever known, quite frankly. He didn't mind sharing and teaching us — and we could have been playing them in the state championship.”
Joshua Potter — watchThe coaches keep coaching, but the kids in front of them change. Phones and Twitter arrive in the locker room. Film study goes digital. Character education becomes part of the job description, and the veterans adapt the same way they teach: on purpose, every day.
“The kids know if you love them and you care about them. You ask any kid at any grade, 'Hey, what teacher loves you and cares about you?' They'll rattle some off without hesitation.”
Jared Moffatt — watchCOVID punches a hole in daily programs — what took years to build takes a blink to lose. The transfer portal makes veterans nervous about what kids are chasing. And still the profession renews itself: Jordan Carroll starts his first season coaching receivers, and Jason Johnson's son turns down bigger money because coaching is in his blood.
“It's a calling. It's something that you get to pour into young people's lives, and it's a privilege — it's a blessing to be able to do that.”
Jordan Carroll — watchStart years are approximate (“c.”), derived from the career lengths each coach states on camera.
Browse the full archive of interviews, stories, and testimonials behind this timeline.
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